Conflicting Views - American Woman Suffrage

Not all Americans agreed that women should vote. The idea of women in politics went against tradition and ideals of proper roles for men and for women. Politics had been the domain solely of men since the country's beginning. As the idea of woman having a voice in politics grew, people with different ideas about women's proper place in society strove to convince others of their own viewpoint.

The story of the woman suffrage movement is a story of a national quest for gender equality. It is also a story of class and race, as suffrage leaders were primarily upper and middle-class white women.

Woman suffrage is part of the story of America's transition to industrial captalism. Women leaders in the movement had the privilege of income, leisure time, and education. This was due to the wealth of their husbands and fathers, earned through industrial capitalism. Women leaders were free to use their money, time, and energy to create volunteer organizations to convince other Americans that women should or should not become voting citizens.